Fort Worth ISD to consider joining lawsuit against TEA’s new A-F school ratings system
The Fort Worth Independent School District could be joining the growing list of districts across the state that are suing Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath over the Texas Education Agency’s accountability ratings system, which is changing this year.
The school board has called for a special meeting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday to consider joining the lawsuit, according to district spokesperson Cesar Padilla. The lawsuit revolves around a new criteria for grading schools that districts say will harm their performance ratings, even if performance improved, by way of “retroactively changing the rules,” the lawsuit filed on Aug. 23 reads.
The A-F ratings for districts and schools are based on standardized test results, annual academic growth, graduation rates and more. Adjustments within the academic growth category are being made this year, as districts saw a big jump within the category in 2022 after students returning to the classroom following the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Texas Tribune. TEA wanted to account for test scores rebounding to pre-pandemic levels and predicted steep declines in ratings if those factors weren’t addressed.
The agency announced this week that it would be delaying the release of the ratings, originally scheduled for Sept. 28, by about a month. The agency said “further re-examination of the baseline data” was required “to ensure ratings reflect the most appropriate goals for students.”
“The final ratings methodology will be posted once this analysis of the growth data is complete, and about two weeks later, A-F ratings will be issued for parents, educators, and the public to use to help Texas schools continue to improve,” the agency said in a statement.
Crowley ISD was the only Tarrant County school district among the original districts that filed the lawsuit, and Dallas ISD joined it this week.
“The TEA has substantially changed the accountability ratings system in a manner that will impact every school district and campus in the state, meaning that the ratings expected to be issued in Fall 2023 for the 2022–2023 school year will be based on a different set of rules than previous A–F ratings, and making it impossible to compare the ratings issued by the TEA in 2022 and 2023 side by side,” the Dallas ISD resolution to join the lawsuit states.
In the suit, filed in Travis County, the districts are asking for an injunction to prevent the TEA from issuing grades based on measures or methodology that was not available to the districts at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, when students took the tests that will be used to determine the ratings.
The A-F accountability ratings system has been used since 2018, after the Texas Legislature approved it the previous year. This year will mark the first time the education commissioner has made substantial changes to the ratings formula, according to the lawsuit.
